Synchronising to Salsa Rhythms: The Effects of Music and Dance Training

Description

1.1 Background

Beat perception and production are fundamental for dancing to, and playing, music. Musicians and dancers learn to perceive the beat, and align movements with it. However, this movement takes different forms in the two disciplines. Musicians make discrete, effector-specific, movements to produce music, and dancers make whole-body movements, usually in the presence of music, to produce dance. Moreover, in music the focus is on sound production, whereas in dance the focus is on movement production.

The challenges posed by beat perception and production vary in difference musical styles. In Salsa, beat perception can be particularly difficult due to unusual rhythmic structures at its core. Salsa music is highly cross-cultural, with roots in musical traditions ranging from Africa to the Caribbean, Europe, and the Americas. Moreover, there is a large amount of popular music inspired by the genre. Most people therefore have some familiarity with Salsa music, whether or not they dance Salsa.

1.2 Aims

In this study, we will assess beat perception and beat production abilities when listening to naturalistic stimuli based on Salsa music. We will include groups enabling to control for skills in extracting beat information from the music, and synchronising whole-body movements to music.

1.3 Methods

The groups will include: (1) beginner Salsa dancers; (2) experienced Salsa dancers; (3) experienced dancers of other dance styles; (4) musicians; and (5) controls who are neither dancers nor musicians.

Participants will tap their preferred tempo, tap to a metronome, and undertake the Harvard Beat Assessment Test. This will allow us to control for preferred tempo, and ensure that participants have normal sensorimotor synchronisation abilities.

Participants will tap the beat of naturalistic stimuli based on Salsa music. These will vary in tempo (164 bpm, 192 bpm, and 220 bpm), and amount of information about the beat, in three different instrumental combinations: (1) clave and bass; (2) clave, bass, and cáscara; and (3) clave, bass, cáscara, and maracas.

1.4 Results

Tap times will be converted to radians, standardising results across tempi. Variability and accuracy of tap times will be analysed using circular statistics, with all data points (arbitrarily) assigned a radius of 1. Mean vector length denotes inverse variability of tapping, i.e. the less variable the tapping, the closer the mean vector length is to 1. Mean vector angle denotes inverse accuracy of tapping, i.e. the less accurate the tapping the larger the absolute value of the angle.

Linear mixed-effect models will be employed to compare performance between: (1) groups, (2) tempi; and (3) amounts of information about the beat. The groups will be coded according to experience in dancing, Salsa dancing, music perception, and music production. This will be used to build a hierarchical model, which will be compared to a random model in order to determine which factors best describe any differences between groups.

1.5 Discussion

In this study, we hope to elucidate differences in beat perception and beat production abilities, arising from intensive training in music or dance, when listening to naturalistic stimuli based on Salsa music.

Period	9 Oct 2023
Event title	SysMus23 - 16th International Conference of Students of Systematic Musicology
Event type	Conference
Location	Sheffield, United KingdomShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International